Waiting for the furniture

Everything has been going surprisingly well so far this week. After many months I have regained my British nationality in the eyes of the INS/BCIS/USCIS.... whoo!! And yet more amazing still, they did this without messing up my name. I'm ever so proud of those boys up there in Vermont. What this means of course is that I have, finally, applied for a Social Security number. So here's hoping that they did actually manage to change my name from 'Vichol' in their database... which was the original problem way back in November, before they made me a Zimbabwean for 3 months.

At the moment I'm sitting at home having sloped off work once more. Although I do have a semi-valid excuse today.... I'm waiting for some furniture to be delivered. Being as the only furniture in my flat at the moment is a chair, a cardboard box and a mattress, I think that some furniture is long overdue.

Sitting here has at least given me the chance to listen to the last ever Mark and Lard show on Radio 1. Back in the good ol' days when I was a 16-17 year old still going to school at the incredibly inaccurately named Castle Manor Upper School, as it consisted of neither a castle or a manor, I started listening to their late night show. It was probably one of the first shows that really got me interested in music. I remember when they along with Mark Kermode and Mark Lamarr had the "So many Marks and yet so unremarkable" section... it was all very good. Not to mention they introduced my to Ian Duhig and in particular "Fundamentals" a poem about a missionary:

"....Let me make this clear. When I say `God is good, God is everywhere', it is not because He is exceptionally fat....."

The number of people who have looked at this web page increased rather dramatically over the last 24 hours as Neil Gaiman put a link , to my mumblings about seeing Thea Gilmore live in Pittsburgh, on his journal. Thus causing me to run about the room flapping my arms. And I really wish that I was joking when I say that..... I swear it's a neurological disorder that I suffer from. It's called, by me and for the first time right now, "Ryan's syndrome".. it's related to Tourette's syndrome but with none of the medical evidence, or anything else in fact, backing it up. It's symptoms are the aforementioned arm flapping, along with various other strange hand movements (not that type of hand movement), and repeatedly writing the word testicle.

Oh and if anyone is reading this having followed the link from that nice Mr Gaiman's journal, or anywhere else for that matter, if you live in or around New York you really should try and go to see Thea play at Joe's Pub tomorrow (Wednesday) night at 7:30. Also for anyone reading this who happens to live in America and possesses a TV, watch Wonderfalls this Thursday at 9/8c on Fox. It's really good... I'm sure you'd love it. Well okay I'm not sure, but chances are you'd really like it... I do.